@vbspurs I arrived at that song this morning as a consequence of a conversation about the phrase "going Galt" and similar things like "going postal." What were the other "goings"? My first association was: "Going Mobile."

If you know anything about Pete Townshend's Lifehouse project from which this album grew out of, you would know that the narrator of this song is a parody of industrialists and hillbillies who have the attitude that they can free load off the rest of us and not take responsibility for the externalities they produce like air pollution.

I have no problem with industries producing pollution as long as they keep it on their property. If they are going to release it into the air and pass that costs on to the rest of the world then I see no problem with them being appropriately taxed, creating a market that accounts for these pollution costs.

Why do Althouse Hillbillies believe that companies have a right to pass on their externalities (pollution, etc.) onto everyone else? Are you a bunch of communists?

...the narrator of this song is a parody of industrialists and hillbillies who have the attitude that they can free load off the rest of us and not take responsibility for the externalities they produce like air pollution...

You don't find irony in that this "parody" has been electrically amplified for close to 40 years using mainly coal fired electricity?

Like I said, I have no problem with this as long as all of the costs are accounted for. Why should a coal fired power plant be allowed to spew their pollution for free, even though it is costing its neighbors, while a cleaner electrical producing company does not get this luxury?

Thew true communists are the ones who use taxation of fictitious pollutants to control the means of production. In Communism, the state controls the means of production.

In 1971 there were very little pollution controls on anything. Through innovation and regulation, we have come a long way without destroying our ability to manufacture and have a "mobile" population. If we start extracting large sums of money from the economy, and at the same time limit the ability of industry to produce anything, our life as we know it will end. Not what most rational people would want.

So how do you explain Townshend throwing Abbie Hoffman off the stage at Woodstock?

And how on earth do you explain "Won't Get Fooled Again," which was sage, nearly Burkean, advice to the pseudo-revolutionaries of 1970, expressed in satirical terms?

And just as an aside, do you ever worry that your supercilious attitude might lead some to conclude that you are overcompensating for an inability to grasp complex ideas? This is something children do, but it's sad when an adult does it.

(Unless, you are actually 14 and don't just seem like you're 14. If that's the case, then we can laugh about this when someone buys your first legal beer.)

Chickenlittle wrote:You don't find irony in that this "parody" has been electrically amplified for close to 40 years using mainly coal fired electricity?

Isn't that the funniest thing? (Funny in a sad pathetic way and not a ha ha way)The environmentalists and do gooders have to rely on the market to get their message out about the dangers of polluting the environment,and in so doing pollute the environment, often in grossly distorted ways in comparison to the rest of us normal folk. Think about how many times the Who were in concert, using tons of electricity and how the concerts were broadcast on satellites and how many thousands of people drove gas guzzlers to the concerts to hear said songs which railed against pollution. You'd think if the Who simply had less concerts, and by extension, environmentalists wrote fewer books and made fewer products extolling the clean life, that we'd have a more clean environment. But the last thing I want to hear from is a multimillionaire artist selling millions of records/cd's made of plastic and jetting around the world telling me about my profligate ways. Pete, stay retired and put the cash cow to bed.

I caught a little bit of what looked like a recent The Who reunion concert the other night. Pete looked pretty good doing his windmills and all. He's been making a living doing that since his teens. Of course he didn't dare smash his gorgeous Strat. It was Daltrey who looked a little dweeby with closely-cropped locks and erudite spectacles. IMO, Robert Plant did a much better reprise the other year at that O2 Led Zeppelin concert.

Like Kathy Shaidle of Fivefeetoffury.com likes to say, the Who is cooler than that indie band you like. I'll bet Not A Hillbilly (Just A Jerk) likes emo folk music sung by British crusties who squat in abandoned caravans (what we call trailers over here). See, since they have less talent, they have a smaller carbon footprint!

Sorry, but I wrote my post on the fly. I have a business to run. I don't have the luxury of hanging out at my law school office with nothing to do but surf the web. It must be nice to be on the State's payroll and pretend to be John Galt.

"I've never understood the "Althouse Hillbilly" insult. It seems to be something made up by LE Lee with no reference to something from the blog or something Althouse said that would make it clever.

As it is, it just a repetitive, unimaginative attack."

seconded. hillbillies?? it doesnt make any sense and certainly doesnt describe the commenters here. hell im an official "brown person", do i qualify as a "hillbilly". if one were creative and intelligent, one could come up with a much more imaginative insult. hillbilly is just lazy.

plus it has the uncomfortable twinge of class-based hatred of the appalacian poor, a strange position for a supposed "liberal" to put hisself in.

A lot of homophobic and racist stuff gets posted on this website and then goes without passing comment. But "God damn!" if you make fun of the Althouse Hillbillies! Obviously, I am not making fun of poor white people. Instead, I am making fun of the intellectually poor twits who eat up the red meat that Ann forks over on this site everyday.